


Batman said you were dead

by Mistress_of_Vos



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alfred is also the best, Bruce needs therapy, Jason is a sweet boy, JayTim Week, JayTim Week 2020, M/M, Never too late tho, Robin reversal, Tim sort of dated Ra's in a point, Timothy would come back from the dead and still be stoic as hell, Yes this is late I moved from platform deal with it, no beta we die like men, rewriting under the red hood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24687790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistress_of_Vos/pseuds/Mistress_of_Vos
Summary: "Jason meets Timothy when he is fourteen; the thing is, that as long as Jason knows, Timothy Drake was buried years ago."/JayTim week day 3: Role/Robin Reversal
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd, implied Tim Drake/Damian Wayne, implied Tim Drake/Ra's al Ghul
Comments: 5
Kudos: 164





	Batman said you were dead

**Author's Note:**

> Canon divergence to the point that this is a semi AU.
> 
> -Damian is Nightwing (and he killed the Joker, ups)
> 
> -Timothy has pretty much the same story but instead of becoming Red Robin he is killed by the Joker and comes back as Red Hood (but he actually is part of the family)
> 
> -Jason is Robin (he is a cutie)
> 
> -Implied Ra'sTim
> 
> Originally posted in fanfiction.net on June 7th

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Jason remembers seeing Timothy (who back then was Robin) jumping between roofs with the grace of a true bird when he was around nine years old.

In those moments, Robin had been a light in the dark life of the orphan known as Jason Todd, the orphan whose mother had died from an overdose. And it had been nice to see Robin jumping and rescuing people once or twice, green and yellow shining in the night.

Robin was probably a teenager, or at least he looked like that. Taller than Todd, black long hair and pale skin showing under the mask. Fighting with the elegance of a dancer.

One time, he sees Robin taking down some guys at the avenue and he has such a pretty smile when greeting the crowd that Jason wishes he had a camera to immortalize the image forever.

Jason is ten when he hears the rumors of Robin being dead; the kid is stealing some fruits in the safe of darkness when the adults say it.

" _They say he is dead."_

" _No way, he must have left, they say that guy, Nightwing, he was Robin years ago. The kid must have left too."_

While the second option sounds highly possible and is quite nice, something inside certain orphan just can't believe it. Robin would never leave, he wouldn't quit.

And it's stupid, because Jason is not even that much of a fan of Robin like he is of Wonder Woman, for example, but he still feels like crying at the thought of Robin being dead.

Seven months after the suddenly disappearance of Robin, Jason comes across Batman.

Well, not really like that. Jason is stealing the hubcaps of the Batmobile so yeah, he was more likely to be caught anyway. The thing is… The thing is that Batman, instead of hitting him or something like that, asks Jason if he is hungry.

Of course, he is, he is a ten-year-old living on the streets that had fall in desperation to the point of trying to steal from Batman, from the hero of Gotham.

Turns out Batman is a nice guy, he could be less violent and a little bit more expressive but hey, Jason will not say those things out loud while the Bat offers him a bag with hamburgers and fries inside. Maybe later, once he has apologized again for stealing from him.

Batman looks at him with a mixture of pity and curiosity.

-You remind me of him.

-Who?

-Robin.

Jason swallows before putting way too many fries into his mouth. He is not going to ask about Robin right now, not even if his heart screams to know the truth and _"Why would Robin ever leave Gotham? He was our hero."_

Nevertheless, the kid doesn't dare to ask anything, and Batman takes him to the Batcave after Jason confesses that he has been living in the streets for almost two years and oh, Bruce Wayne is Batman. Nice for him.

The weeks after that are very complicated but also warm and happy.

He meets Alfred (who literally is the best cook of the world) and Damian Wayne (Nightwing in person, Jason still can't believe it) and the manor. Although saying that he meets the manor is rather strange, is more like becoming used to have a warm bed and the three basic meals.

Bruce takes him in and Jason honestly doesn't know why and, being the kid, he is, wonders if he will have to pay something in return. That is, until Alfred explains to him that Jason is actually the second orphan Bruce adopts; a matter of empathy, probably.

Is not after the papers have been signed and that Jason is starting to attend school that he asks about Robin.

Bruce's eyes got dark and he leaves without answering, Alfred looks to the other side of the room and it's Damian, dressed in his black suit and still reading some papers of WE who bothers in explaining.

-Robin was killed.

Damian's voice is cold and full of resentment.

Jason doesn't ask nothing more; he is too busy trying not to cry in the face of a truth that has always been whispered in the corners of a lonely manor and a suit placed in a showcase at the Batcave.

The story comes by itself, anyway. In nights where Jason finds Damian smoking inside the room that Alfred keeps closed or alone in the garden, holding his sword tightly and with an empty sight.

Robin was killed almost a year ago by the Joker. He was beaten to death. He was just sixteen and he had been tortured and killed.

Robin`s name was Timothy Drake, the only heir to Drake Enterprises, who had been orphaned at nine (funny, just like Jason) and then taken in by Bruce Wayne. He became Robin after only six months of training and _"He was a prodigy, both in fight and as a detective."_ murmurs Damian when he is drunk enough to let Jason ask more details about Timothy besides the obvious.

So, time passes by, full of truths half told and strange looks between Damian and Bruce. Until the Joker escapes from Arkham Asylum.

The night Damian kills the Joker with his own sword is the same night that Alfred allows Jason to visit Timothy's grave to leave a roses bouquet and say "Hi."

He comes back to the manor only to hear Bruce's yelling and to see Damian's hands covered in blood.

Nightwing leaves that night, Alfred prepares tea and explains to Jason that was only a matter of time for him to have his vengeance. Then the butler tells him stories about Tim as Robin, about the Young Justice and the Titans and even of Robin and Nightwing.

Timothy and Damian were pretty close, or at least that's what Alfred says.

Two weeks after Damian's departure, Jason asks Bruce for the Robin mantle, and while the man refuses at first, he slowly lets him have his way.

" _Batman needs a Robin."_ Is what Jason says the first night he wears the costume and Batman looks at him with such shock that for a moment Jason believes his mentor just saw a ghost. And maybe he did.

And just like that, Jason is eleven and fights crime during night.

Damian calls him time to time; the boy is bad with words and feelings but he is trying to keep in touch even after moving out of the manor. He also is trying to be less violent (he had quite a rage after killing the Joker) and has reunited the Titans.

He offers a place in the team to Jason but the boy declines, he is still getting used to fight alongside Bruce and is not sure if he could work with metahumans as easily as Damian does.

Time keeps going on.

Jason gets twelve and finally gets Bruce to show him photos of Tim when he was Robin. He looks elegant and beautiful in such a dangerous way that Todd doesn't know how to feel about him being dead.

Jason gets thirteen and Damian comes back at the manor for his birthday with a very special gift, a sword of the Al Ghul that had been stealed by Timothy himself. Damian had kept it along with many other items Timothy had taken from Ra's during one whole year and he swear he hasn't used it so…

Now it's Jason's sword, or something like that.

He goes and places a rose bouquet in Timothy's grave just like the first time and tells him stories about Batman and Robin, maybe he will hear him even if he is in Heaven.

He really wishes he had taken that photo.

Jason meets Timothy when he is fourteen; the thing is, that as long as Jason knew, Timothy Drake was buried years ago. That was the whole point of being dead, of being killed.

It happens in his 14th birthday, of course, is almost like a gift.

He is at the Batcave, waiting for Batman to arrive and instead… Instead he is confronting Timothy's eyes.

He looks even more beautiful than he does in the photographs that Alfred has showed him; his skin soft and without any scar (which is weird because he died after being tortured), his big blue eyes shimmering, his black hair longer than never and carrying the smell of rain.

Jason gives thanks to God that he isn't wearing his Robin costume, he would be way to embarrassed of being seen like that by Timothy.

-I thought you were dead.

Timothy raises an eye and that's when Jason notices the red helmet in his arms… And the gray, tight armor in his thin body; a brown leather jacket in his shoulders and a gun in his waist.

-You must be Jason.

-Yes… Are you Timothy?

-Yes, or well, I was.

-Batman said you were dead, I… Everybody said you were dead.

Timothy laughs in such an innocent way that seems unfair.

-Oh, that's because I did die. But now I'm back.

Jason swallows.

-I… Well, I'm glad you are back.

-I'm glad too.

Silence.

-How did you come back?

-Oh, Ra's brought me back… Well, sort of.

-Sort of?

-Yeah, you know, like two years ago there was a "dimensional crisis" if you want to call it that way; it fixed some errors of the "destiny", and really, it sounds ridiculous, so I prefer the term second chance.

-So, you just came back? Like that?

-No. I woke up at my coffin and…

Timothy looks at Jason before continuing, the younger boy is trembling.

-I woke up at my coffin with a huge amnesia, but I got out of there. I managed to get to a hospital and there… A man of Ra's recognized me and took me to him.

-But why?

Drake sighs.

-Let's say that Ra's is a very stubborn person; he had the idea that I had came back to him and decided to keep me at his side.

-But your amnesia… How did you remember who you were?

-Oh, after two or three months of being "alive" Ra's noticed I was never going to heal of my… Injuries. Or my amnesia for that matter. So, he used the Pit.

-Oh.

-Yep, it was pretty awful. But I got back my memories.

-Then why…?

-Why did it take me so long to come here? To come back to Batman?

Timothy cocks his head.

-I'm not proud to say this, but I wanted to stay with Ra's. I thought that maybe he was right, that my place was with him… But then I noticed it wasn't. When I managed to escape from Nanda Parbat it had been already a year of my resurrection.

-And the last years?

Timothy's eyes take a green glow.

-I have been watching you.

Jason feels strangely calm.

-You know, I always wanted to meet you, Damian says you were a great detective. Even better than Bruce.

-I'm better than Bruce, yes.

Somehow that doesn't sound arrogant, it sounds like a truth.

-I always wanted a picture with you.

-Is that so?

-Yeah, you are really pretty.

Jason swears he hadn't been thinking in saying that out loud.

Timothy only smiles with his red lips and white teeth.

-Aren't you charming?

The older boy gets closer to him with grace, his hips wiggling and his boots sounding more like heels and…

And then Timothy places a kiss in the edge of Jason's mouth.

-Happy Birthday, Jason. I'm afraid the photo will have to wait.

Batman arrives to the Batcave.

That day is the best birthday Jason has ever had.

Maybe only surpassed by the one in which he gets 18 but hey, that's a very private matter between him and Timothy.

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**Author's Note:**

> I really have no idea what I was doing here. The words just came out like that. Like, I have 1970 words and the plot is nonexistent.
> 
> Ahhh…. Sorry not sorry but honestly, Jason crushing over a dead Tim is just perfect. 
> 
> Go check out my twitter account! @Mistressofvos
> 
> No beta, we die like Jason Todd.
> 
> Reviews are free, my fellow watchmen!
> 
> `Till all are one!


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